The Little Goldfish
by fhclause
Summary: She's the most stubborn, wonderful thing and he'll never get tired of watching her. MakoGou one-shot series.
1. The Little Goldfish

**The Little Goldfish**

_Free! (c) __Kyoto Animation_

_The Little Goldfish__© fhclause_

**Log 1: The Little Goldfish (AU version of Free!'s Drama CD 2 Track 5 )**

"Aah… that's too bad," Gou pouted as she put her camera into her bag. "It would have been a good learning observation. A battle between squids, glasses _and_ muscles."

"Just when you wanted to battle with the squid, Rei-chan," Nagisa resignedly said as he patted Rei's shoulder.

"I never said that!" Rei adjusted his glasses with a sigh. "This squid competition thing shouldn't exists in the first place. It's just not… _beautiful_."

"But it's a battle between squids, glasses and _muscles_!"

"And it's called Squid-Grabbing _Heaven_ competition!"

"That's not the point!"

Makoto chuckled, amused as usual by his teammates' fuss over such a small thing. It was the second day of the summer festival and unlike yesterday, the Iwatobi team decided to go together instead of going by themselves. Obviously, he and Haru arrived first, what with the festival were just around their neighbourhood. They waited for their kouhai near the entrance and a few minutes later, the trio arrived with their summer yukata.

Rei greeted them politely with barely concealed enthusiasm while Nagisa practically skipped towards them with excitement. Behind them, Gou was smiling brightly as usual. When she greeted him, Makoto ignored the pointed look on Haru's face. He knew what his childhood friend was thinking, but Makoto wasn't going to embarrass himself again even if Gou's friend wasn't here this time to ask if their—_her_—yukata was the only cute thing he meant.

Of course, that small praise didn't _mean_ anything. Even though there _was_ a grain of truth in it, he was mostly just being polite. Haru gave him a look at that time too though, and Makoto had to bury his face in his pillow later that whole night when Haru was quietly but relentlessly teasing him about it.

They walked around the festival, absorbed with all the food and games. It was pretty much your usual summer festival, until Nagisa suddenly shouted and dragged Rei to a place where the people seemed to be gathering around in excitement. When the others caught up with those two, they found out the hubbub was about a competition—a squid grabbing competition.

Nagisa was trying to bully the very much protesting Rei to enter, while Gou was persuading the boys that entering the competition—practically naked except for the fundoshi, as required by the competition—was a good way for her to collect data on their strength.

It didn't matter though, because apparently, they weren't old enough for the squids—whatever that meant.

"Now, now. Cheer up, guys. There's still the Crab Festival. Maybe we can enter that one next time," Makoto said when his kouhais were still pouting over the squid competition.

Rei grimaced. "Count me out, please. Crabs are more painful than squids."

"It's not that hard, Rei," Haru glanced back. "All you have to do is to become one with the crab."

Rei blinked, making sure he heard it right but Nagisa was the first one to break the silence. "I don't get that at all, Haru-chan!"

Haru frowned, as if he didn't get why _they_ didn't understand. "Become one with the crab, Nagisa."

Makoto chuckled. Knowing Haru, he must had been serious even when he sounded like he was joking. He glanced back, spotting the redhead girl just a few steps behind him. He slowed his pace to walk beside her. "How about you, Gou-chan? Do you want to come if we go to the crab competition?"

"Of course!" She stole a quick glance at Haru who were, strangely enough (or not), trying to make Nagisa and Rei understand how to be 'one' with crabs. "Maybe I can trick Onii-chan to come with me too."

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea." Makoto smiled. Somehow, the relationship between the Iwatobi boys and Rin had become estrange since the red-headed boy came back from Australia. Makoto knew Gou was trying her hardest to patch things up, even when she herself didn't know why her brother acted that way. When Ren and Ran fought, Makoto always tried to settle them down and talked to them how their actions can hurt others. Sure, the gravity of Gou's situation and his were different, but he could understand Gou a little bit. That's why he would give her his support when she needed it. Didn't matter if she asked for it or not. "Maybe the crabs will pinch some senses into him," he joked.

Gou giggled. "Ooh. Now I really am going to make Onii-chan comes."

They were jerked back, surprised, when they heard Nagisa squealed in delight. "Mako-chan! Gou-chan! Look, Haru caught some goldfish again!"

On cue, Haru raised his arm. There were two goldfish this time, both completely red but one with a dark spot under its belly.

"Haruka-senpai's skill…is this how you become 'one'?"

"Never mind that, Rei-chan! What are we going to name them?"

"Mackerel and…"

"They're goldfish, Haruka-senpai!"

"I know! Since the other goldfish are named after us, how about 'Gou-chan' this time?"

"It's Kou!"

"Eh… Makoto-senpai didn't name the goldfish after us…"

"Umm…I did actually…"

"You did!?"

"Then, Iwamoge and Iwato—"

"You're not good at this, are you?"

"Well," Makoto said loud enough for them to calm down. "I think naming one of them 'Gou-chan' is a good idea. That is, if you don't mind, Gou-chan."

"Oh," Gou flushed, caught off guard. Then, she smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't mind. But, umm…" She glanced shyly at the two goldfish in the plastic bag, suddenly hesitating.

Makoto smiled. He understood. "Now, the other one will be…" He looked back at everyone, quietly hoping for agreement. "...Rin?"

Guess he didn't need to worry.

"Oh, I agree!" Nagisa raised his arms in agreement.

Rei crossed his arms and nodded. "I guess he's the only choice left…"

Haru kept quiet, but then, raised his arm higher to look at the goldfish better. "The one with the black spot."

"Then, it's agreed," Makoto smiled as he looked back at Gou.

Gou smiled back. "Yup!"

When it was time for everyone to go home, Gou mouthed a thank you at him before boarding the train that made him giddy for some odd reason. Of course, Haru sensing this, stared at the plastic bag now at Makoto's hand and gave him a teasing albeit dry remark about 'Gou-chan'. Makoto had to hide his face in his pillow the whole night to burn away his embarrassment. Again.

* * *

**I finally able to finish this. Couldn't decide whether to make it angsty, funny or just generally there (I'm not sure what that means either). If you're curious about Free's Drama CD, there are two of them. You can Google it for the translation version. Just Google 'Free Iwatobi Drama CD translation'.**

**You are welcome to leave prompts, ideas, opinion, critics or a simple review.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	2. Just

**Just…**

_Free! © Kyoto Animation_

_Just … © fhclause_

Makoto was just a normal high school boy. He was as nice as a pie, had a heart of gold, plain brown hair with kind, green eyes, the captain of the Iwatobi Swim Club, had amazing triceps muscles (according to one redhead girl), the big, dependable big brother, able to read the mind of one of the most impossible man to be read (Haru), able to swim ten laps within—

Makoto quickly shook his head. He was supposed to list out how normal he _was_. Not all the things he was or what he could do. Normal people were supposed to be _humble_.

_Yes. Humble. Be humble._

But then a traitorous little voice in his head compared himself with Haru, Rei and Nagisa who were _way_ weirder than he was.

Hmm…Was that why Gou-chan never really look his way? Because he's not weird?

Makoto pursed his lips. It's not as if he wanted Gou to look _his_ way. At least, not _that_ way. Rin would probably kill him first before that ever happens. It was just that… he thought Gou was being unfair.

In what way? Well…

Gou was like the sun. When she was happy, she would shine and treat everyone with smiles. But when she was upset… Man, when she was upset, she would scorch everyone involved, let her anger showed and gave them a proper set down. Her eyes turned darker, her lips pursed like a sweet date, her hair swished angrily, her shoulders hunched, made them look smaller than they already were…

This was going to sound weird, but Makoto liked it when Gou was angry.

There was something about an angry Gou that made his heart skipped a beat. Her being scary was one of the reasons, but that's not all. It gave him some kind of a…thrill. Like doing something really dangerous but you knew you were going to be alright by the end of it. The rage, the energy, the _spark_; something about those made his chest bubbled up and made him felt like holding her so close, so tight and never let go.

Not for _her_ to feel better. But for him to feel that angry spark too.

The problem was though, when Gou was angry, that anger never really directed at him. She usually got angry at Nagisa for calling her 'Gou-chan' (Makoto always wondered why Gou never got mad at him when he called her that. He really had thought that trick was going to work), or at Haru, who always jumped into the water before she finished speaking. She rarely got mad at Rei—but that wasn't important. The important thing here was that Gou never got angry at _him_.

Makoto wasn't jealous. He wasn't overthinking things because he was jealous. There was nothing to be jealous about, even when Gou was being unfair.

Nuh-uh. Nope.

…He just felt a little bit troubled by it.

Makoto sighed, defeated. Just as Makoto walked out of the changing room, he heard a loud shout and a big splash from the pool. He hurried his steps and what met him…was Nagisa and Haru in the pool, Gou glaring daggers at the petite blonde, and Rei, slowly stepping away from the red-headed girl.

"Umm…what happened?" Makoto asked as he also realized that Haru was slowly wading away from the edge of the pool.

Nagisa, brave soul, ignored the angry Gou, swam right under Gou's feet and pouted. "Hear this, Mako-chan! You remember when Gou-chan said she can't swim?"

Makoto glanced at Gou, who seemed tempted to crush those fingers near her feet. "Yes? What about it?"

"So, I asked her if she wanted to learn how to swim. And Gou-chan said 'no'! And then she pushed me into the pool!"

Makoto raised an amused eyebrow. "Are you sure? Did you try to push her into the water first?"

Nagisa blinked. "Well, yeah… but I already asked Rei-chan and Haru-chan to help too! It seemed wasted if she didn't agree!"

Rei shook his head violently. "N-no! I did not agree to such things!"

"Whaaat!?" Nagisa whined. He turned to Haru. "Haru-chan?"

In response, Haru quickly ducked into the water. Only his eyes peeked out. He quietly shook his head.

"Haru-chaaaaaan!"

"Well, that solved it then." Makoto walked closer and stood beside Gou, so he could address Nagisa properly. "Nagisa, if Gou-chan doesn't want to swim, you shouldn't force her."

Gou nodded in agreement and shook her finger at Nagisa. "That's right! You shouldn't have pushed me either!"

"But I'm the one in the pool!" Nagisa huffed.

Gou turned to Makoto. "Thank you, Makoto-senpai."

That smile on Gou's face made something in him clicked. Makoto smiled back. "Although…"

"Hmm?"

"I think…swimming can save your life."

"Eh?"

"So why don't you learn now?"

"Eh!? Eehhh!?"

"Ready?"

"Makoto-senpai? What are you—whoa!"

"Yeah! Go, Makoto!"

Makoto, carrying Gou in his arms and trapping her resisting knees easily, smirked at her. "I hold your breath if I were you."

His grin widened when Gou glared at him. "Makoto-senpai, don't you dare. I'll hate you forever for this."

"I'm counting on it!"

"Stop! Stop! Makoto-senpai! Makotoooo—"

SPLASH!

"Wooohooo! Great job, Mako-chan!"

"M-Makoto-senpai!?"

"…Makoto?"

"Phuah!" Makoto burst out of the water with a spluttering Gou. The hilarity of the situation slowly came to him and when he saw Gou wet, red and clearly _angry_ at him, Makoto laughed.

"…I hate you, Makoto-senpai".

Well, that's a just treatment.

* * *

**You know... I can picture MakoGou to have a BDSM relationship. I don't like to read nor will write about one, but the idea is very, very tempting.**

**Currently working on a prompt sent by pucca. Please wait for it. In the meantime, thank you for reading and kindly leave some remarks (or prompt, if you like).**


	3. Going Once

**Going Once…**

_Free! © Kyoto Animation_

_Going Once… © fhclause_

_Prompt: **auction** from **pucca**_

Gou tapped her feet impatiently. It was about to start, but there was still no sign of Nagisa anywhere. Or more importantly, the person Nagisa was supposed to bring.

_Where is he!?_

It was Iwatobi's Culture Festival today and as per norm, all clubs had to have their own event to manage. Food stalls, cafes, hunted houses, concerts, drama performances; it didn't matter. As long as they hold something, it was fine.

But that's the thing. The Iwatobi Swim Club was unable to hold anything. Because they were out of budget.

They were so excited at first. A lot of ideas was being thrown around. Nagisa had wanted to do a food stall—specifically, the Iwatobi-chan bread but added with extra ingredient; the strawberry-protein flavour. The idea was quickly shot down as he mentioned it. Haru had wanted to do a swimming competition. It was a good idea, but it was autumn and no one wanted to swim in the cold—except Haru, of course. Makoto adamantly shot down any idea involving hunted house and suggested for a concert instead. Since then, Gou learned that he actually loved to sing, especially rock songs—which she found weird, considering how sweet Makoto was. Unfortunately, none of them were particularly good in playing any kind of instruments and they refused for their beloved Makoto-senpai to do the whole thing alone.

Finally, Rei suggested the most clichéd, but popular event for a culture festival; a café. Gou was the first one to agree. She remembered that time when Rin wore a maid costume for his school's culture festival. It was a weird sight, and her brother didn't like to talk about it—even preferred if she just pretended it never happen—but Gou had to admit; Rin looked _pretty_. So, it was at the tip of her tongue to further suggest for her boys to wear maid outfits too, only to be crushed when Amakata-sensei suddenly popped in and told them the bad news. The club was suddenly filled with crushed hope.

"We can sell Iwatobi-chan key chains," Haru's quiet voice suddenly broke the silence.

Makoto chuckled. "If you're going to craft them, I can help you, Haru."

"Ooh, ooh!" Nagisa cried happily. "How about we sell things we don't need?"

"Or an auction?" Gou asked. "It'll be more interesting that way."

Rei nodded. "That's certainly a good idea, Gou-san."

And so, the Iwatobi Swim Club members worked hard on organizing the auction. Gou, however, thought that despite the hundreds of wooden Iwatobi-chan key chains, the old but still pretty clothes from Nagisa's sisters and a collection of popular books, something was missing.

Something exciting.

Something like—

"Makoto-senpai!" Gou gasped in relief when a mop of brown hair finally appeared around the corner. "You're here!"

Makoto huffed, out of breath. "Sorry. Gou-chan. H—Haru was…I had to…finish…"

Gou shook her head. "It's alright, now that you're here."

Makoto straightened. There was a familiar glint in Gou's eyes that strangely made him wanted to…run away. He mentally shook his head. _That's ridiculous. It's just Gou-chan._ "Nagisa said something about an emergency…?"

"Yeah. It's about the auction. It's not enough."

"Not…enough?" Makoto parroted. He glanced at the stage where Rei was skilfully raising the bid. "Do you mean the items we sell?"

"No."

"The bid money?"

"No!"

Makoto tilted his head in confusion. "Then…what?"

"Mou!" Gou pouted, as if in disbelief that her senpai still didn't get it. "Excitement, senpai. Excitement!"

"Oh, how about we play some music—"

"And our last item; one that everyone has been waiting for!" Rei's voice boomed from the stage. "From third-year, Class 3-A…Tachibana Makoto!"

"Huh?" Makoto blinked. "Did Rei just—"

"It's your time, Makoto-senpai!"

"Wait—what? What's going on!?"

"Now, strip!"

"Huh!?"

Rei grimaced as he heard a scream backstage and coughed over the microphone_. Sorry, Makoto-senpai. It's Gou-san's idea!_ "Let us present the captain of Iwatobi's Swim Club!"

As of cue, Makoto stumbled onto the stage, but quickly froze with embarrassment as he realized that he was standing in front of perhaps half of the Iwatobi's students _half-naked_.

"The highest bidder will win not just an hour of tour around Iwatobi's pool, but also to go on a date with Makoto-senpai for a day of his choosing! So, how about it, you guys!?"

A small pause, then a raise of eager hands. "500 yen!"

"800!"

"820!"

"900!"

Back at the backstage, Haru, who just heard Makoto's predicament, frowned. "Will Makoto be alright?"

Nagisa giggled. "Sure. Mako-chan is really popular."

"Hn…"

"Makoto-senpai!" Gou hissed at the stage. "Flex your muscles! Your muscles!"

"Gou-chan, go easy on him…"

"But it'll be a wast—ooh! He's flexing it! He's flexing it!"

"1050 yen going twice!"

"I—I—I…!"

"Kou?"

"1200 yen going once!"

"Can't hold it—anymore!"

"1205 yen goin—"

"_1500!"_

The auction suddenly filled with silence when the voice boomed out of nowhere. Everyone was looking for its source until Gou suddenly stepped out into the stage.

"G-Gou-chan?"

"Rei-kun! 1500 yen for Makoto-senpai's muscles!"

"B-but, Gou-san…you weren't supposed to—"

"Rei-kun!"

"U-umm…1500 yen going once…?"

"…1700!"

Gou flashed a glare to the people downstage. "2000!"

A long silence.

Rei coughed uncomfortably. "Um…I guess…the winner is… Matsuoka Gou-san. Congratulations."

* * *

"Gou-chan…"

"I'm so sorry! Your muscles are too beautiful for me to resist!"

"It's not that," Makoto sighed. "You could've told me that you wanted me to do this in the first place… You too, Nagisa, Rei. Both of you knew this, didn't you?"

They glanced at each other. "We're sorry, Mako-chan. I thought you'd say no, so…"

"I guess, but…" Makoto sighed again. He glanced at Gou who looked equally sorry. "Are you alright, though, Gou-chan? About the money? We can just cancel it."

Gou shook her head. "Nope. I'm okay. After all, it's for the club's benefit too!"

Makoto smiled in relief. "Okay."

A small pause, and then Haru casually spoke, "So, when are you two going on that date?"

* * *

**A request from pucca. Thank you for the prompt!**

**2000 yen equal to around $18. I'm sure Makoto isn't that cheap, but ****I have no idea how much Japanese students' pocket money is daily/monthly. **

******Tidbit: About that Rin wearing a maid costume, it's kinda canon; from Free!'s Season 1 Drama CD 1 Track 7**

******Thank you for reading and kindly leave review, critique, or prompts!**


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